Havre Bouches to Craigmore   |   Campsite: 45.78216° N, 61.47698° W

I wake at 4:00 to a light rain against the rain fly. My morning is slower than usual, as I am aiming to be 3.3 kilometres down the road by 6:30 in order to arrive at Gary’s Groceries when it opens. The small village of Havre Boucher is a checkpoint on this segment of the walk, as initially, I believed it was the only place to refill water before the town of Port Hawkesbury 5 kilometres out of my way toward Cape Breton. However, I have located a coffee shop about 10 kilometres past Gary’s Groceries on the highway that will serve as a very important point to restock on water. It is located on the Trans-Canada Highway directly before the causeway across the Strait of Canso, which means that I am able to conveniently refuel at this point. I stock up on drinks at Gary’s Groceries, talking first with Gary about the walk, and then with his daughter Angela—who is in for coffee on her way to work at the local hospital—at the cash. I ask if there are any public parks nearby where I would be able to enjoy my drinks and snacks, some of which are freshly-baked molasses cookies that are given to me as Gary also bakes fresh goods for the business. Debra, Gary’s wife, invites me over to the deck on their home next door, and we talk. She suggests that I walk the trail section that begins at Troy, continuing all the way north to the town of Inverness—all parts of the Great Trail that winds around the coast. Debra has walked it in sections and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, recommending I walk it rather than the roadway. She mentions that it is well-marked including access trails into each of the towns along the roadway, and provides beautiful views of both St. Georges Bay and later The Gulf of St. Lawrence. This is excellent news, and I am excited to see it all! They wish me luck, I thank them for their hospitality, and set out again, ascending a steep 200 metre hill out of town, walking the quiet two-lane Highway 44 until it meets with the Trans-Canada 104 Highway. I stop for an hour in Aulds Cove to cook brunch, pause for coffee, fill all water bottles, and journal the morning. Just down the road, there is a gas station with a liquor store where I pick up two pints. One I enjoy on a picnic table overlooking the water, and the other I pack for later. As I am enjoying the view of the big water a couple approach. A car alarm sounds and I joke, “We try to enjoy some nature and this is what we have to listen to!” They ask about what I am doing, and the man says that he is jealous and that he would love to do something similar for seeing the world. I ask about them and they tell me that they are on day eleven of a twelve-day bus tour of Nova Scotia—tour busses that I will see plenty of when I reach the Cabot Trail section of the cape. They are now on their final stretch to Halifax where they will catch a flight home. We wish each other good luck and safe travel. The final segment to walk using the Trans-Canada is a long, narrow strip across St. Georges Bay that has been designed purposely for vehicles to pass. No provisions for pedestrians were built into the design. There are no gravel shoulders, however, there is space on the outside of the causeway piled high with various sizes of stones and tufts of grass. I manage to get across to the other side, stopping at the Tourist Information Office where I meet Amy who answers all of my questions and confirms everything that I have been told so far about the Ceilidh Coastal Trail (or Celtic Shores Coastal Trail). She also informs me of the provincial park rules of use for when I arrive at the north end of the Cabot Trail. As I walk into Cape Breton, rain begins to fall—not hard, but enough to soak everything and form puddles over the ground. I walk the road for about an hour, then I find the first trail access point outside of Troy. Covered picnic tables greet me and I am able to change comfortably into more hefty rain gear. The next hour of trail walking is in the rain, but it begins to lessen by 2:30, stopping by 3:00, with the sky beginning to show signs of clearing by 3:30. Every bend in the trail reveals such pretty vistas! This is certainly one of the highlights of this walk to this point. I soon find the most incredible camp spot. It is perfectly placed in a growth of trees, perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence with a beautiful view of the upcoming shoreline and bays. I end my day right then and there, with a respectable 37 kilometres having been walked. Tomorrow I will pass through the town of Judique where I will be able to restock water. I put a few minutes into journalling the day, make a cup of hot chocolate, cook some dinner, and hang out, relaxing overlooking the magnitude of the water from the vantage point of a campsite perfectly positioned with a bird’s eye view. This surely is my best day so far: amazing walking, meeting cool people, incredible trail walking, and by far the kind of campsite I have been hoping to sleep in! The clothing and tent are dried, and I ease into an incredibly mild evening with a soft breeze until sleep angles in around 7:30 / 8:00.

Today’s distance walked: 38.27 km    |    Total distance walked: 2,184.68 km

“Everything around me was darkened, and my body, surrounded by that darkness, felt weightless. I saw myself walking through the flowered fields of Aghata, where I met my grandmother and an uncle who had been important to me when I was a child. I felt the vibration of time in its grid of quadrants, where all roads are joined and mixed, becoming identical despite their being so different from each other.” – Paulo Coelho, “The Pilgrimage”, p. 200.

Antigonish to Havre Bouches   |   Campsite: 45.66046° N, 61.54984° W

Rain fell in waves last night, clearing up by 3:30. I wake up by 4:00 but don’t really get moving until 4:30. I am out walking a bit later this morning by 6:00. I walk 20 kilometres through to Paqtnkek—with only a short 30-minute break to cook lunch—where I stop to rest in the air-conditioned cool. It is a lovely space where tables are set up in a bright atrium with large windows and skylights. I take the time to write for a half hour. During this time the laptop is charged, water bottles are filled, rest and relaxation are enjoyed. The Bayside Travel Center is one of the most comfortable and useful gas stations with rest areas I have found over the entire walk so far. I can’t understand why there are so few of these in Eastern Canada. People enjoying the space are relaxing, talking, drinking coffee, and planning out the next stages of their trips. I very much enjoy my hour-long rest here! By 3:30 I have walked close to 40 kilometres, and I begin to scan for a place to camp. I soon find one up on a hill about 100 yards from the highway. The tent goes up and I am inside by 3:45. I am tired—another tough day, although I’m sure the constant noise and threat of traffic have contributed much to my exhaustion. I clean and prepare for the evening. I organize gear for tomorrow. I write the day down. Today, so many long sections of straight highway were marched through! Some of these sections took me up to 45 minutes to walk. I was thinking about this walking challenge and about how many different kinds of pathways I’ve walked, with all the different types of landscape, and I very much like that this walk has been made over such diverse terrain. While it has been difficult to plan for water refilling (not knowing which rivers or streams are actually accessible), food, and camping locations into the walk, I am excited about being able to organize it all into 59 days (so far) that have been successful. I put some time into studying the upcoming 100 kilometres. I was sure that I would have to walk an extra five kilometres to and from the town of Port Hawkesbury, but I’ve found resources on the road located before this town, allowing me to start walking north into Cape Breton and on to the Cabot Trail without the need to walk the extra distance. This saves me two hours of walking. I relax into a few hours of reading before drifting off into an early sleep.

Today’s distance walked: 39.42 km    |    Total distance walked: 2,146.41 km

Sutherlands River to Antigonish   |   Campsite: 45.60983° N, 61.95801° W

Today I will walk 54.98 kilometres through rain, drizzle, and wind. I will wake at 4:30 and be walking by 5:30. I will primarily follow Highway 4, a small, quiet road snaking alongside the four-lane split Trans-Canada Highway. I stop at 8:30 to cook food under the T-C, and then realize that both east and westbound traffic are driving over one side of the split. So, I will climb up to the T-C, realize that the westbound two lanes are closed due to construction, and I will walk five kilometres east over two lanes of my own personal highway. I will exit onto Highway 4 when the construction zone ends, walking the rest of the distance into the town of Antigonish. The last ten kilometres feel as though they will never end: tired, sore, deflated. I will walk by the small University of Antigonish St. Xavier. I will buy cheese, dry meats, yogurt, and fruit. I will sit on a picnic table outside the grocery store and eat a full meal. The next chore will be walking 2.5 kilometres to buy some necessities at the Shoppers Drug Mart downtown, followed by a 2 kilometre walk to Canadian Tire to buy a fuel canister for the stove. I ask the manager if it would be alright if I tented out back where a little patch of grass has been kept. I gain approval. My final chore is to cross the parking lot to acquire a few pints for the evening. The wonderfully-bearded man working at the liquor store who would sell me beer was refreshing and calming to talk with, and sets a comfortable mood for this section walking Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. Then I proceed to set up the tent. Within thirty minutes, a truck drives out onto the grass to where I am standing, stopping, with the passenger window lowered. I am confronted with an angry face from a man in the passenger seat, and the mistrustful eyes of the driver sizing me up. They are the owners of the worn-out strip mall I am attempting to camp behind, and they tell me I cannot because—they say—it will only attract more of the same (campers I suppose is what he means). I pack up and move on. The land was mosquito-infested anyway. So I leave the only town, Antigonish, where I have been refused a helping hand in the form of a night of camping throughout this entire walk. I’m not sure what that says about this town… I find a good place to set up the tent about five kilometres outside of town and immediately sink into a deep, full sleep.

Today’s distance walked: 54.98 km    |    Total distance walked: 2,106.99 km